Indische kwak op besneeuwde boomtak 1900 - 1930

Ohara Koson made this print of a bird on a snowy branch, sometime between 1877 and 1945, using woodblock printing. It’s currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. Look at how the grays and browns wash over the scene, they’re almost translucent. You can really see the texture of the paper coming through. Koson's mark-making feels so direct, like he wasn't trying to hide the process at all. In fact the process is the point! I'm drawn to the way the snow clumps on the branches, it looks so soft, almost like fur. And the bird, perched so delicately, it creates this great balance between fragility and resilience. It makes you wonder about the conversations between Japanese and Western art from that period, like Whistler's atmospheric landscapes. It's all about finding poetry in the everyday, but without trying to pin it down. Art is alive, always changing, and always open to interpretation.